Effect of Wearing Eyeglasses on Judgment of Socioprofessional Group Membership
Year: 2015
Type: article
Abstract: Several researchers have reported that people photographed wearing eyeglasses were perceived as being more intelligent and honest than people who were not wearing them. In this study, conducted in France, I tried to replicate this effect using a forced-choice situation. Participants viewed a photograph of a male target wearing, or not wearing, eyeglasses and were instructed to estimate his socioprofessional group using a well-known French list. Results showed that, compared with the target without eyeglasses, the target wearing eyeglasses was more frequently associated with a higher status socioprofessional group and less often with midstatus or low-status socioprofessional groups. These results confirmed that a common cue of facial appearance is sufficient to activate a stereotype of social group membership.
Author: Nicolas Guéguen
Institution: Université de Bretagne Sud
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2255403530